Palin 2012?

Earlier this afternoon, Sarah Palin announced that she would step down as governor of Alaska by the end of the month, more than a year before the end of her term. “We know we can effect positive change outside of government,” she said. While Palin says she wants out of politics, and some point to the timing of her announcement as a harbinger of a scandal yet to be publicly revealed, the decision to leave office would make it easier for her to travel around the lower forty-eight states and build the infrastructure for a 2012 presidential run.

Palin’s resignation was the final break from her original post-presidential campaign strategy, which was to keep a lower profile and focus on local issues. It was supposed to be a return to the Sarah Palin that Philip Gourevitch interviewed in the summer of 2008, before John McCain selected her as his running mate and she emerged as perhaps the most polarizing figure in American politics.

Palin wanted to be seen as someone eager to change things fast. “I’m halfway through my term,” she said. “Maybe you saw the clock as you walk in. It tells me how many days we have to make a difference. I’ve got, like, eight hundred and forty-three days to make a difference left? Halfway through!”

As a public speaker, Palin was known for expressing goals and voicing good intentions with gusto, if with few specifics. As she talked about her hopes for Alaska, she often seemed to skip from slogan to slogan without ever touching solid ground. …

“I see us as the most unique state in the union,” Palin replied. “I sure wish that we could be recognized as the head and not the tail of the U.S., because we should be the head—literally and figuratively.” She continued, “Alaska could lead with the energy policy, we should be the head. So I don’t see us as a colony but just extremely unique.”